India, Jan. 2 -- Ties between India and Bangladesh may seem out of tune at present but the cultural bonds among the people of the region are not something that birthed with the creation of Bangladesh in 1971. A remarkable symbol of this shared heritage is the Gharana tradition in music across the Indian subcontinent, which remains syncretic and pluralistic with Hindus and Muslims working as closely as ever.

It is well known that Rabindranath Tagore composed 'Amar Shonar Bangla', which was adopted as the national song of Bangladesh in 1971. However, less known is that it was written to register a protest; the Nobel laureate wrote it in 1905 to protest the division of Bengal by the British colonial government on communal lines.

Tagore's a...